TO RE-TILE OR NOT TO RE-TILE - THAT IS THE QUESTION

[A.P]

HI.
I HAVE JUST BOUGHT A NEW HOME AND NEEDS SOME ADVICE. NOW I AM A TOTALLY BEGINNER TO DIY OF ANY SORT.
THE BATHROOM IS HUGE AND YET THE PREVIOUS OWNERS HAVE DONE A GREAT JOB OF KEEPING EVERYTHING IN THE BATHROOM AS GOOD AS NEW, EVEN THE WALL TILES ARE STILL LOOKING NEW EVEN THOUGH THIS BATHROOM HAS BEEN THERE FOR 10YRS. I USED A LONG SPIRIT LEVEL ACROSS THE WALL, FLOOR AND IS A REALLY GOOD STRAIGHT SURFACE ALL ROUND.
WELL I WANT TO KNOW WHEN CHANGING TILES DO YOU:
A: HAVE TO REMOVE ALL OLD EXISTING TILES IN ORDER TO STICK ON NEW ONES
B: CAN TILE ON TILE ON WALL TILES
C: AFFIX PLASTERBOARD ON THE OLD WALL TILES AND THEN AFFIX TILES ON THERE, (THIS ONE WAS A IDEA FROM A BATHROOM SALESMAN MIGHT I ADD)
I WILL BE USING LARGE TILES

MANY THANKS TO ALL THAT REPLY

A.P

[thescruff]

You could find the caps lock and press it once, while your waiting for the experts.

[Mooncat]

A.P. Please note

On the Internet, using ALL CAPS represents SHOUTING! which you won't need to do, especially here, as well as being more difficult to read in large blocks.

With reference to your questions, I recommend that you knock the tiles off, prepare the wall, large tiles need flatter surfaces, and do the job properly. Ready mixed adhesive is best avoided, especially where thicker bedding is needed, as it takes much longer to set.

[royaloakcarpentry]

First off I would say the bathroom sales bloke type idiot needs avoiding...........go elsewhere.

You can tile onto tile but depends on what is behind the existing tiles, size of new tile.......Large tiles I would say NO.

In the ideal world I would say NO don't tile onto tile.

best option is to remove existing tiles, repair walls, over board, replace plasterboard etc. Tiles bigger than 250mmX300mm use a cement based tile adhesive. this means bagged powdered adhesive.

[A.P]

oops sorry about the caps lock thingy,
thanks for the advice i reckon next weekend a few drinks and hammer time.......

a.p

[handyman]

C: AFFIX PLASTERBOARD ON THE OLD WALL TILES AND THEN AFFIX TILES ON THERE, (THIS ONE WAS A IDEA FROM A BATHROOM SALESMAN MIGHT I ADD)

Thats a mental idea ..........................


Would go for tile removal, fix up surface and tile. Tile on tile is fine if the weight is going to ok and thickness round edges, surrounds are going to be fine.........in most cases they are not.

[A.P]

thanks, the walls are really solid and straight, but looks like i might whack the old tiles off.

a.p

[royaloakcarpentry]

It doesn't really matter if your walls are made out of concrete or plasterboard, you still need to take the tiles off.

technical bit made easy. adhesive is wet but it dries because the water in the wetness is absorbed into tile and background. Your background at the moment is tile and so where is the moisture going to go??. the new tiles are large so probably not bisque and so not much water absorbtion into those either. So adhesive has trouble drying and forming a bond.


largest tiles I would over tile with would be 200X200mm and it would have to be the only option due to budget, job constraints.

With large tiles 250X300 and over, you need to use a cement based adhesive. With those size of tiles I wouldn't over tile but walk away from the job and let someone else put there name to it.

[handyman]

technical bit made easy. adhesive is wet but it dries because the water in the wetness is absorbed into tile and background. Your background at the moment is tile and so where is the moisture going to go??. the new tiles are large so probably not bisque and so not much water absorbtion into those either. So adhesive has trouble drying and forming a bond.

Then why does BAL have instructions for using their adhesive on various surfaces, including tiles????

[royaloakcarpentry]

Just the same as Nicobond do adhesives for tiling onto tiles also.

he is using large tiles though, so at a good guess I would say they are not bisque. So you have ceramic background and new porcelain tiles.

as said you can get away with it using smaller tiles but the larger tiles, you are taking a chance.

It is like a lot of things ''you can do it, but it is bad practice''. When I was doing City and Guilds brickwork we were taught to tooth in but told it is bad practice and should be avoided. You see it done though.

We have a proper tiler do stuff for us on a lot of occasions well over 20 years behind him and his view on over tiling is exactly the same. It is where I got the info from, cos I did a tile on tile job a few months ago and was talking to him about it. he isn't a ''bathroom basher'' as he refers to a lot of tilers lol. that comment tickled me.

That is the difference, we do bathrooms and kitchen tiling up to a limit but when someone who does book matched work and can tile without spacers but still have 2mm, 5mm etc gaps talks to me, I listen to them.

[tictic]

bagged adhesive sets of with a chemical (crystal) reaction, the water sets this off.
tubbed is a dispersion(sets of with air) adhesive.

[royaloakcarpentry]

Exactly......hence he wouldn't use tubbed with large tiles but bagged.

Another good reason not to over tile.......The added weight of large tiles plus adhesive plus grout on top of the weight of existing tiles plus adhesive plus grout all bearing onto the tiling background!!!!

[Only-Me]

You can never be 100% sure how well the old tiles are stuck...........it only takes a couple of tiles to be iffy.......and then your knew tiles could come crashing down.

Do it right first time and remove ALL old tiles, prep walls properly......and re-tile.

Often easier to take down plasterboard and re-new if large areas or if damaged

[tictic]

Exactly......hence he wouldn't use tubbed with large tiles but bagged.

Another good reason not to over tile.......The added weight of large tiles plus adhesive plus grout on top of the weight of existing tiles plus adhesive plus grout all bearing onto the tiling background!!!!

roc i am just telling the op..how adhesives "set" you and the others have already told the op the best advise....
oh and when it comes to tile over tile not many bagged adhesive,if any are any good for glazed ceramic"s,only use on "unglazed"tiles...

[tictic]

Just the same as Nicobond do adhesives for tiling onto tiles also.

he is using large tiles though, so at a good guess I would say they are not bisque. So you have ceramic background and new porcelain tiles.

as said you can get away with it using smaller tiles but the larger tiles, you are taking a chance.

It is like a lot of things ''you can do it, but it is bad practice''. When I was doing City and Guilds brickwork we were taught to tooth in but told it is bad practice and should be avoided. You see it done though.

We have a proper tiler do stuff for us on a lot of occasions well over 20 years behind him and his view on over tiling is exactly the same. It is where I got the info from, cos I did a tile on tile job a few months ago and was talking to him about it. he isn't a ''bathroom basher'' as he refers to a lot of tilers lol. that comment tickled me.

That is the difference, we do bathrooms and kitchen tiling up to a limit but when someone who does book matched work and can tile without spacers but still have 2mm, 5mm etc gaps talks to me, I listen to them.

pmsl ere....